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Topic: Gothic Space Horror (Read 79672 times)

Micky kneeled down by Santiago. Placing her fingertips lightly on his throat, checking for a pulse. Hearing a sound behind her. Micky turned, the wrench held defensively. Ready to swing it at a moments notice.It was Pockets. Micky lowered the wrench."Pockets..help me.Please." Turning her attention back to Santiago. Placing one hand over the knife wounds. Setting the wrench down, she used her other hand to check for a pulse.Her own blood pounding loudly in her ears. Breathing hard in short quick breaths. Obviously doing her best to stay calm, but pretty much failing.Her hands trembling slightly. Yeah Mickey was a pilot. And yeah she had been at war before. But being up close and personal with death was still very new to her. She was use to flying into a hostile territory and picking up/dropping off soldiers. Not hand to hand. Never up close and personal til now.And to make matters worse, it was a member of their own crew doing this. Marney was dead, and most likely Santiago would be joining her.

As Mickey paused next to Santiago Hue moved forward, there was a door at the end with a key pad on it, there was no way to know the combination at least for him. He considered shooting the lock bolt out but waited.

"Pockets do you think you can slice this lock?" The shuttle bay was cold and empty Hue looked nervously at the huge bay doors that held back the freezing vacum. Santiago looked like he had it he was loosing alot of blood. Hue tucked the gun into his belt and ran back over. He patted Mickey on the shoulder, she was after all a pilot and he was a medic.

He took a pressure bandage out of his pocket and ripped Staniago's shirt open so he could get to the stab wound. He placed the bandage over the wound and pressed the sealing edge. It sealed around the stab and pain relievers poured through the bandage into his body. He still looked pretty pale. "That's all I can do now. "Pockets help me with the lock if you can't get it I'm going to blast it off either way you take Santiago back to Medical and hook him up with a blood bag he's lost too much for his body to recover on it's own."

Pockets stared for a moment, then she got hold of herself and started moving. "What happened here?" she demanded. She took a look at the keypad. She wasn't terribly familiar with locking systems, and this ship might have something completely different involved. But she pried up the access panel nearby and started working on the lock.

Severin just stood and watched them all. He wondered where Ao had gone and stood mesmerized as Hue and the others worked efficiently. He was shaking slightly and was short of breath. He had to sit down for a while, and let the others work while he sat unnoticed in the shadows.

Then he began to scan the walls for signs of air vents. If Pockets had problems opening the service door to the fighter hangar, perhaps they could enter through the ducts and shafts of the ventilation system.

Micky sat in silence, watching Hue bandage Santiago. Micky felt lost and useless all of a sudden. Some of Santiago's blood covered her hands and alittle stained the front of her clothing. Staring in silence.

Micky then rose to her feet. Rubbing a hand across her cheek, not noticing the bloody streak it left. The wrench clutched in one hand. She looked blankly to the room in which Taget had escaped into.

Santiago's color improved slightly, and the tension left his face as the pain relievers and anti-imflammatories went to work on him. His breathing was slightly better also.

"Mi friends..." he said faintly, "To all of you I am indebted."

*****The door popped open, the access code having been disabled from the bridge. It was nice that certain areas of th ehsip were protected from lock-out protocols, especially the parts that could be decompressed. Now if the area was already decompressed, the doors would not open no matter what command sequence was entered.

They carried Santiago on an emergency stretcher that had been located in a med-kit cabinet in the hanger. The door to the medbay was open, but it sounded like there was someone inside the room. There was a sound of glass breaking, and the operating table and supplies being knocked open. A hoarse moan came from the room.

Hue was held in a momentary paralysis of disbelief...Marney had pulled herself from the morgue drawer and was now stumbling across the room, her guts hanging out, leaving bloody smears across the floor. She reached for him, bloody lips pulled back from white teeth.

Pockets had helped carry Santiago down the hall to the med bay, still awaiting an explanation. But as soon as she saw what was inside med bay, she froze. But not for long. Marney... no, what was left of Marney was reaching for Hue. Pockets let out a yelp that could probably be heard all the way from one end of the ship to the other. Forgetting all about the concealed gun in her pocket, she struck out with the giant spanner, hoping to connect.

Ao, clawing himself upward and taking huge breaths of the air that flooded the bay following the re-closure of the bay-doors."Hwaten Jigoku?!" he exclaimed violently, lapsing into the Asian-influenced Lunar English dialect. "Tere ul be kharat iveangeance pora desu," he muttered. 'There will be big payback for this.'

Marney's head jerked to the side, the bone of her cheek, and temple cracking loudly. The spanner had connected solidly. The thing that had once been Marney gurgled and rasped loudly as it staggered under the weight of the blow, but dead muscles pulled her back upright, her eyeball hanging out of its ruined socket.

*****Ao had a moment to savor his sudden ability to breath again. He heard a shuffling step behind him. It was the sort of thing that happened in the old horror holovids, and some of the stories he had once read, the smell of death...

The dead man, Raynor, stood close behind him, staring at him with eyes that weeped gelatinous viscera, his face a ruin of frostbite and dryness. The skin was split, and showed bloody underneath, but had a disturbingly dry texture. Jimmy put his hand out, touching Ao's shoulder with extended fingers.

Hue stood shocked for a second as the zombiefied Marney staggered back up from Pocket's blow. Running sounded good, he pulled the big DX2 pistol out and pulled the trigger. The bolt of plasma ejecta spat out of the pistol, in semi automatic shots.

It connected Marney's undead flesh and started burning turning it to cinders. Hue pulled the trigger a couple times a the gun whined again and spat six more plasma gloubules into Marney's corpse and head.

Micky turned. Watching the shambling corpse reach for Ao. Her expression still blank.Moving forward, swinging the wrench like a bat. It moved in a wide arch, putting her full weight behind it. Aiming at the back of Raynor's head.

Severin had been moving about in the forehangar, scrutinizing the different tug-craft and shuttles. The situation had gotten so bad, he had decided he was going to prepare some of the tug and repair crafts for emergency evacuation. Problem was Taget, for he had escaped into the fighter hanger and Severin did not wish to be caught in a tug and repair craft, while the murderer Taget blasted him to smithereens using one of those top notch space fighters.

Now Severin was inside a tug craft cockpit, when he suddenly spotted the formerly frozen corpse of James Raynor on the navigational display screen, the dead man was attempting to touch Ao, and Micky was desperately maneuvering to hinder that touch. Instinctively, responding to years of simulator drilling, Severin began firing the fore cannons, but there was no trigger and there was no cannons, his index fingers just tapped the synth leather on the controls. There was no time to engage the repair lasers or welding torches!

Cursing, he opened the floor panel and ran down the ramp, trying to aid Micky in her efforts. In the process he grabbed a small steel-reinforced cargo net that hung on a wall near the floor panel.

"This isn't happening, this isn't happening..."Ao's voice trailed off, eyes widening in impossible horror. He backed stiffly away from the suppurating corpse, coming up against the cold bulk of the wall. His nails clawed uselessly against chilly metal. His muscles went limp, and he fell to his knees."No-no-no-no..."

The wrench connected with a sickening thud to the back of Raynor's head. Bits of dead skin and congealed blood sent flying in an arch. The wrench jarred her arms all the way to her elbows. Without hesitation she lunged onto Raynor, knocking him to the ground. There she continued to beat and pummel the dead man with the heavy wrench. Striking him over and over again, hearing the skull bone eventually giving way. A wet sticky crunch.

Micky had this look in her eyes. This blank..almost cold look. Something inside her brain had snapped. Taking out her fury upon the man who refused to stay dead. The corpse beneath her continued to groan and try to move. But her attack was relentless. "DIE!DIE!DIE!You ugly stinking &#*@&(@*&^! DIE d**n you! DIE!"

She only stopped when she could no longer lift her arms without pain. Her wrists, elbows, and shoulders throbbed. Satisfied that Raynor would stay down she moved off of the body. A glance to Ao, but in truth she didnt see him. And for now that was a small blessing. Micky rose to her feet, turn she shuffled to the door Taget had gone through. Bits of congealed blood and other matter speckled her skin in places. Coated in gore and having mentally snapped, she was almost a menacing sight. A look of rage appearing on her once emotionless face. Those white teeth were such a stark contrast compared to the dark gore upon her flesh.

Her hand tightened around the wrench, summoning a few more ounces of strength. She swung the wrench once more. The sound of the wrench hitting the heavy metal echoed throughtout the hanger. Swinging hard enough to leave a small dent in the smooth surface of the door. "Why Taget?? WHY!?!?!?!?!" She beat the wrench against the door a few more times until the strength in her arms gave out. The wrench slipped from her fingers and clattered to the ground. Micky hit the door a final time, using her bare hand. Sliding to her knees. She glared at the door. Silently swearing to the old gods and anything that lingered in the dark..that she would not rest until Taget was dead.

Severin appeared from around the corner of a tug and repair craft, just as Micky pounded the zombie. He stopped dead in his tracks as Micky assaulted the corpse, uncaring whether she was hurt or not.

When she was through with her beating, and was looking in another direction, Severin snuck towards the corpse and threw the reinforced cargo net beside it. Then he carefully kicked the corpse on top of the net and dragged the entangled corpse towards a space craft.

This one would definitely be shut inside a cargo hold, until they were certain that Raynor was really, really dead.

"Help me, Ao" he whispered, afraid that the corpse would awaken, or that Micky would hear him. While he understood that she was afraid and angry, the fierceness of her assault frightened him. Would they all become murderers and deserters on this trip? Was it murder to kill those technically dead? What was he doing here?

Not waiting for Ao, Severin dragged the entangled corpse of James Raynor toward the cargo hold. He would not wait for it to rise again.

Micky's rage did not last long. She sat before the closed and dented door, the wrench not too for from reach. Her head down, shoulders slumped forward. It wasnt right. Marney had been a good and kind person....she didnt deserve to die at the hands of Taget. Raynor's corpse up and walking was the final straw that caused Micky to snap. She had reacted out of fear and a surge or adrenaline which quickly turned into fury. At least Raynor's body was down. History and halo-vid movies showed one certainty, a walking corpse didnt walk around looking for witty conversations. They only brought pain and death to others.

She caught movement from the corner of her eye. Turning her head she looked at Severin. Watching in silence as he dragged the body of Raynor away in a net. A glance back the other way at Ao. Micky saw their fear in their eyes. That look made her sick to her stomach. They were afriad of her.

Her attention shifted to the gore covered wrench and her own hands. Tentatively she reached up and touched her face. Finding more there. No wonder they were afraid of her. Reality pulling back into painful focus. Letting her hands drop into her lap. Another glance to the wrench, then up at the door. Seeing the dents. Stunned that she had caused them.

Silently she rose to her feet a bit shakily. Both hands empty. Micky backed away from both Ao and Severin. An apologetic and frightened look on her face. Micky never intended to freak out like that. But no one ever does. Her voice barely a whisper. "I'm sorry."

Micky turned and ran from the room. The wrench left there by the door.

Itching bloodlust in him to blow down the door and chase after Taget burned in him but he would be d**ned if he let Mickey alone, he had seen too many horrors lived out today.

"Micky! Wait." He ran out after her, the plasma pistol clutched tightly in his hand he couldn't help wondering if the rest of the crew was maybe hunting out there now. Living dead corpses seeking only to consume their flesh. HE caught a faint flash of Micky and poured on the speed. He caught up to her and grabbed her arm.

Micky stoped when she felt someone grab her by the arm. Hearing Hue's voice. She did not turn and look at him. A bit stunned by what all was going on. First having to abandon the Ballard, then Marney's gruesome death, seeing Taget stab Santiago, Raynor's corpse staggering about....and how she had lost her mind for a moment and had beat the body of Raynor almost into a bloody pulp with a wrench from the cargo bay.

She reached up with her free hand, trying to wipe the mess from her face. Micky felt sick inside. The cold grip of fear. What if there were more of those creatures? What if the missing crew were now like Raynor? She doubted they had enough weapons to keep them all at bay. Especially with them being locked out of the main computer system.

Micky was frightened. She didnt know what to do. She was just the pilot. Trying real hard at this moment not to break down into tears.

Hue could tell she was troubled maybe that she had just lost it on the creature that had been Raynor, he tucked the gun in his holster and with the free hand brough it up carefuly wiped the gunk from her face.

"It's going to be ok... It's going to alright..."

Hue put an arm across her shoulders, he couldn't convey the words of consul. He was not eloquent like that so all he did was hold her. Because sometimes people just needed to be reminded that no matter what there is a way, to survive.

Micky looked to Hue when he reached over and wiped some of the congealed blood from her face. Studying him as her pulse and breathing slowed after running. His arm across her shoulders was comforting. Resting her forehead lightly against him. There was some hope for survival. No matter how tiny it seemed at the moment.

Everyone needed to gather together and come up with a plan. There could be more of those things on board. At the moment Micky only knew about Raynor. No clue that Marney had also returned to a state of animated death. Micky knew one thing they would have to do. Her tone quiet, almost whisper like, and a bit shakey. "We have to burn the body."

If his body was rendered to ash, Raynor would not be able to shuffle about in search of a meal.

Micky looked up at Hue, realizing something. "Hue, what if there are more of those things on board? Raynor was dead when we found him. And frozen..there could be more of them thawing out now.'' In the silence of the corridor a strange sound caught her attention. It was coming from the Medlab, where Pockets and Santiago were. "What was that?"

Marney shuffled towards them once more. Hue had run off, leaving Pockets the only one able to deal with the situation. She swung the spanner again, harder, and at a slightly better angle. Even if the blow didn't knock something vital off, it should at least be powerful enough to send the zombie halfway across the medbay. But Pockets couldn't keep this up too much longer. There was something she could do, though. She was a small woman, but she could make an impressive amount of noise when necessary. "SOMEONE COME HELP ME KILL THIS d**n CORPSE!"

"Good idea Mickey." Hue set the plasma gun to a constant stream, when the screams reached him.

"SOMEONE COME HELP ME KILL THIS d**n CORPSE!"

"@!#$ I thought I killed it," Hue grabbed Mickey's hand and ran towards the Medbay again, he arrived at all speed. In time to see Zombie close on Pockets in a corner. He released Micket raised the plasma pistol, "CLOSE YOUR EYES!" He roared at Pockets.

He depressed the trigger, a blinding neaon red glare filled the air. A stream of plasma boiled into Marney's rotting corpse. The flesh sizzled and burned, the beam split her right down the middle. A gapping four inch gap, flesh vaporized in seconds, the humidity rose immensely. The parts of congealing flesh oozed in a puddle on the floor. Hue ejected the power pack the thing whined the melted to the floor hull. Hue dunked the gun in a sink where steam rose, he slammed his second to last power pack in dialed down the stream again.